DC Genesis

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Mon Jan 21, 2013 10:52 pm

"Got it," Neal said before hanging up the phone. He figured that there was nothing else to discuss, besides he needed to make sure that he contacted Rose and got her in on this. She may not be in the mood to talk, but he thought that she might go for something like this. After all, it sounded like Batman wanted to help them somehow. What more could they ask for.

Neal quickly pulled out his cell phone and dialed Rose's number. He had to hope for an answer, otherwise there was no telling when she might get back. If she didn't answer, he might have to go out and try to find her. That, or go without her.

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

Not two seconds later, Neal would hear the phone ringing. Not just in his ear, but coming from the front door. Rose then pushed her way inside, looking down at her cell. Apparently, she was done with her jog. "Uh... yeah, I'm right here, Neal," she said, before stuffing it back into her pocket. "What is it? I'm not in a very chatty mood."

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:01 pm

Neal glanced up as he heard the phone ringing. He didn't think that Rose would be back so soon. Sometimes that girl could go and run for four straight hours without coming home. Perhaps she just didn't have the spirit for it today, not that he could blame her. He decided to get right to the point. "I just got a call, I think it was from Nightwing. He said that our mutual acquaintance wants to meet up, says that he can help us be more ready and more prepared in case something like this happens again," Neal said quickly. "We're supposed to meet them in an hour."

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

Rose stopped on her way to the kitchen, looking back at Neal with a narrow gaze. "What, are you saying they want us to... work with them or something? So we can... what? Get someone else killed? Yeah, that really sounds like something I want to do." She continued into the kitchen and pulled the carton of orange juice from the refrigerator. Normally, she had the decency to actually use a glass. Today, she just chugged it straight from the carton. "Easiest way to get around it would be to just stop trying to help people. A lot of good that does."

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:12 pm

Neal's gaze followed Rose as she went in to the kitchen, listening to every word that she said. "Come on Rose you don't really mean that," Neal insisted as he looked over at her. "What happened to Zoe was....terrible, and I'm not going to forgive myself for a long time for it, but you and I are still capable of doing so much good. Batman must see something in us, he wants to make sure that we're safe and better prepared."

Neal was quiet for a moment, not certain what else to say. "Think about how we helped Holly and Selina. Without us who knows what would have happened. Batman's done so much good for this city. We may not be like him, but maybe we can get a little closer to what he's like."

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

Rose didn't say anything for a long time, merely hanging her head forward and leaning against the counter with her arms held straight out in front of her. That long white hair of hers concealed her face like some kind of ghostly veil, hiding whatever expression she might have had from Neal. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft, quiet. "It's a bad idea. You know it, I know it. Trying to be some kind of do-gooder, some kind of... of hero. We never should have bothered. What happened with Holly and Selina... Batman and crew were already on it, remember? We just got in their way. And Zoe..." If they hadn't tried to do anything stupid, Zoe would still be alive.

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:29 pm

Neal was quiet for some time, not really certain what to say to Rose's argument. She had a good point, they hadn't really done anything whenever they had tried. Batman had taken care of Black Mask and saved their lives, and Batman also showed up to help defeat Deadshot. So far, the only thing that Rose and Neal had contributed was a body. Zoe didn't deserve to die, it had been because Rose and Neal wanted to see Lawton dead.

"Maybe you're right Rose," Neal admitted as he leaned back against the wall. "Maybe it is a stupid idea and we'll only do some harm," he said before glancing up to the ceiling. "I'm still going to go though. I have to believe that if I really try, maybe I can get something done. My dad helps people every day, I'd like to think that one day I can do the same, even if it's in my own way," Neal admitted.

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

Rose was quiet again for a bit. She pushed herself up straight from the counter and sighed, staring at the floor with her hands held to her hips. She didn't want anything that Neal said to make sense right now, she really didn't. But damn it, he was so... determined. How could getting someone killed like they had done not make him want to quit? How could it make him want to try more?

Finally, she started walking out of the kitchen. "I'm going to take a shower. Then we can... go talk, or whatever those idiots want to do."

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Mon Jan 21, 2013 11:47 pm

Neal looked up in surprise as Rose actually admitted that she was willing to go and talk to them. He just blinked in confusion for a moment, not thinking that his words would mean much to her. Even he thought that they were pretty weak in comparison to what she said. Still, he wasn't going to complain. Meeting Batman on your own just sounded like a bad idea to Neal.

"Alright, I'll be ready to go whenever you are. Just let me know."

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

Rose took her time in the shower, curling up on the floor of it with her knees drawn up to her chest, arms holding them in. The hot water pounded her body, as her soaked hair hung in front of her face. It wasn't just the fact that she had pushed her workout to all sorts of ridiculous extremes the past few days that had her so drained at the moment. She couldn't get Zoe out of her head. Couldn't shake the image of her falling, bleeding from the hole in her chest, hitting the roof, life fading from her eyes... It made her want to throw up.

Shit, they had only known each other for a few days, but she had really liked Zoe. She was fun, interesting, caring... and Rose got her fucking killed. "Goddamn it," she muttered to herself, lying back on the floor of the shower with her feet sticking straight out now. She remained there for another ten minutes before finally washing up and getting out, heading down the hallway with a towel wrapped around herself.

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:21 am

Neal glanced up as he heard the bathroom door open, promptly revealing Rose in a towel. While normally an image like that would excite Neal, it didn't do much for him the past few days. Mainly because he knew the kind of pain that Rose was going through right now. Well, he didn't know it personally, but he could only imagine. Neal had nearly lost his father after all, but Rose had actually lost someone important to her. The two compared, but not by much.

"I'll warm up the car," Neal called out to her. "Just come outside when you're ready," Neal said before putting on a jacket and moving outside to get his car started.

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

It didn't take long for Rose to get ready. Once she made it back to Neal's room, she went through her things and picked out a normal outfit, dropped the towel, and got dressed. She took a short look around the room before she left; it had been several days since she'd been in here for anything other than changing. Normally she slept in Neal's bed with him, mostly because they were screwing. Even when they weren't, though, it was still more comfortable than the couch, which was where she had removed herself to at night since Zoe's death. A small bit of extra comfort in the bed wasn't worth much to her right now.

Making her way back out into the driveway, she climbed into the front seat and pulled the door closed behind her. "Drive," was all she said, as she buckled herself in.

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:31 am

Neal glanced up from his spot in the car as Rose opened up the side door and set herself in. Her order was simple enough, and it was also an indication that she still didn't want to talk about anything that had happened. She was closing herself off now, and she didn't want anyone to be a part of it. Neal hoped that she'd let him back in one day, but perhaps it was too soon to expect that much of her. "On it," was all Neal said before quickly driving off and heading to their location.

---

"It should be right around here," Neal said as they had arrived at their destination and were now outside of their car. He had double checked the internet to make sure that he had gotten the location right. This place did seem abandoned after all. "Now we just have to find them."

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

"Well, you said in the abandoned subway station, right? Rose said, looking down at the old stairway that led beneath the street. There was a bunch of tape and boards wrapped around the entrance to keep people out, but there was still plenty of room to squeeze by. "Seeing as how Batman never shows up during the day, maybe we should check in the subway station. Where it's dark."

On that note, she moved forward and crawled over a few boards, making her way onto the stairs that led into the darkened subway station. "You coming or what?"

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:40 am

"You make a fair point," Neal remarked as he watched Rose go in to the subway. While Neal didn't believe in ghosts or anything like that, he was still a little creeped out about the idea of actually going in to the subway by themselves. Sure Batman would be there, but that wasn't a huge comfort. Neal quickly snapped himself out of his trance as he heard Rose. "Right yeah, coming."

Neal quickly ducked down and began to follow Rose in to the darkness of the abandoned station. God it was already giving Neal goosebumps.

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

"Well... this is exciting," Rose muttered, as they made it down into the main part of the station. The place was nearly completely pitch black, with barely any light allowing them to see. Even with her own enhanced vision, Rose could barely make out anything aside from extremely vague, muddled shapes in the darkness. "You see anything?"

"You came," a voice said behind her.

"Holy sh-!" she exclaimed, spinning around and kicking blindly into the dark. A hand clamped around her ankle and swung her leg out of the way, forcing her off balance. She regained her poise a moment later and squinted back behind her. As her vision slowly began to adjust, she started to make out a few more shapes. People, actually. People dressed in bat costumes. "You seriously need to stop doing that."

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:49 am

"Not yet, I probably should have brought a flashlight in retrospect," Neal admitted as he tried to squint to see better. The only thing that did though was to make the black objects around them to be even more blurry. He would just have to hope that the Bats would show up soon.

The voice didn't only freak out Rose, Neal jumped as well as he turned around. He didn't launch an attack, but he turned around and felt as if his heart was about to stop. He took a deep breath as he realized that it was just the Bats, appearing out of nowhere like they usually did. Neal took a deep breath and let it out again to get his heart back on check. "Nearly scared me to death," he muttered as he looked up at the group.

Neal felt like he should say something, but he honestly wasn't sure what to say. They had called Rose and Neal here after all, so if anyone should speak it should probably be them right?

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

"Yeah, he... does that," a female voice responded. Batgirl, obviously. "You get used to it."

"If you say so..." Rose muttered.

"We are glad you came, though," another voice responded. Judging from how silky smooth and sexy it sounded... Nightwing. "We have a lot to talk about."

Rose folded her arms, frowning. "A lot to talk about, right. You mean about how I got my friend killed, right? Or how you could have jumped in well before that happened and stopped us? Or maybe how you think we somehow want to work with you now to be fucking costumed vigilantes with you? Huh? So which is it?"

"All of it." Batman himself, this time. "What happened with Zoe Lawton was... unfortunate."

"Unfortunate? Unfortunate?" Rose came forward at the biggest blurry shape and poked her finger into his chest. "My friend died! That's unfortunate?"

"It happens," he said, indifferently.

Rose felt her eye twitch. "Oh you son of a-"

"What he meant to say," Batgirl interrupted, "is that he's sorry. He was... watching how you worked. Wanted to know if you... had what it took."

"We were standing by to jump in when necessary," Nightwing added. "If things got out of hand. But when you went up to the roof, we had to reposition and we... we were too late."

"Yeah... too fucking late," Rose said, turning from them. "You bastards sit back and, what, 'test' us. A girl is dead because of that."

It was Batman who replied. "I know... and I'm sorry."

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:12 am

Neal just stood back and let Rose get everything off of her chest. He knew that she had been thinking things like this the whole time, he had to admit that he was glad she was screaming at someone besides him. As the person with the most interaction with Rose, Neal had been worried that he would be first in line to receive her anger. Thankfully, she had only treated him with passive aggressiveness. He was thankful enough for that.

He glanced over at Rose as Batman made his apology. "We were all responsible for what happened to Zoe. She wanted to come with us to stop Lawton. Hell, none of this would have even happened if Lawton wasn't such a crazy jerk in the first place," Neal said as he looked over at Rose. He knew that there was nothing that could be done now, they just had to learn from this.

Neal felt responsible for Zoe's death, it was why he had come here today. He wanted to make up for costing a young girl her life. What if it had been Jordan? Or someone else? Neal didn't want to be responsible for anyone else's life. He just wanted to help them if he had the chance.

"You said that you were watching us to test us. I'm guessing that's why you wanted us to show up today right?" Neal asked as he glanced at the bat family. "So, did you want us to help, or did you want us to stay out of the way from now on?" Neal asked as he tried to change the subject off of Zoe.

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

"We're meeting with you because we've seen that you're both more capable than others," Batman explained. "Rough around the edges, but you show flashes of talent, skill, determination, and a desire to do good."

"You also have a real knack for showing up where there's trouble," Batgirl said.

Nightwing nodded. "But you don't run away from the trouble, you meet it head on."

"And you both have... gifts," Batman added. "From my analysis, Rose is highly advanced in close hand-to-hand combat and possesses enhanced physical attributes, at the very least, while Neal is able to cast hypnotic illusions over anyone he chooses. Both very useful abilities that could be put to a lot of good use... if you're willing."

"What he's saying," Nightwing clarified, "is that if you want to do good in this city, and do it right, we'll train you."

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:23 am

Neal listened quietly as Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl all gave their analysis on what they saw Rose and Neal as. Apparently they both had potential, potential that could be used in order to do good if that was what Rose and Neal wanted. It was a decision that was being left up to them. They could walk away and live normal lives, or they could stay and perhaps do something more.

Neal thought back to the strip club, when Rose had been the one to convince him to run in so that they could help Holly and Selina. He hadn't wanted to go, but Rose had been the one to point out that they couldn't ignore people in need. Neal would have been a coward to walk away. He had stayed and helped, and Neal was glad he did.

Neal gave Rose a single glance and smile before turning back to Batman. "If you'll have me, count me in."

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

Bad idea, she thought. Bad, bad, bad idea. Joining up with the Bats? Fighting crime? Being some kind of... hero, vigilante, whatever? Everything in her head told her not to say yes. Everything told her that it would only end badly like before, with Zoe. She should just walk away right now and stop bothering to try helping people ever again. That would be the safest route to take.

And yet, at the same time, she did want to help people. Maybe not because she was a goody-to-shoes like these guys, but because she thought that if she helped people, it might make up for every person that her father had hurt, and everything that he had forced her to do. Call it repentance. Now, here she was being an opportunity to actually do that, to help people in a way she'd never be able to do on her own, and she was thinking of walking out?

What if she could do more good? Helping people like Holly, and Selina... and Zoe. Maybe taking this path would help make up for getting Zoe killed? Maybe... maybe it was what Zoe would have wanted to see her do? Zoe, who really was a good person and did want to help people...

Finally, she spoke. She didn't look at them, not that she would have been able to see anything but their outlines in the darkness, but she did straighten her posture and take a deep breath inward. "If we do this... do I get to beat the tar out of thugs and criminals?

"Pretty much on a nightly basis," Batgirl replied, with a certain mischievous tone in her voice.

"Then count me in."

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:33 pm

Neal gained a small smile as Rose agreed to join up as well. At first he was so certain that Rose would turn down the offer and walk away, only an hour or so ago she seemed to be completely against it. Still, Neal was glad for the change of heart. Unlike Neal, Rose was a natural fighter. IF anyone was going to learn from the Bats, it was going to be her. Neal would hopefully pick up some things, but he had much more to learn.

After Rose gave her answer, Neal looked back over to Batman and the others. "So, how do we start?"

Kage Posts : 2824 Join date : 2011-04-27

Rose Wilson

"Training," Nightwing said. "Lots and lots of training. We'll have a lot of work to do before you two are actually ready to go out with us and do anything, but with some determination... you'll get there. And we'll need to do something about uniforms-slash-identities."

Rose deadpanned. "I am not dressing up like a bat."

"Oh don't worry... we actually had something else in mind," Batgirl said, stifling a snicker.

"Fantastic..." she muttered.

"Go back to your home for now," Batman said. "Ten o'clock sharp, be back here. We'll be training throughout the night."

Subject: Re: DC Genesis Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:48 pm

Training to fight, Neal supposed that was the answer that he should have expected. After all, without being able to fight what good would they be? Batman thought that they had a lot of talent, but clearly he didn't think that they were ready. Hell, Neal didn't even think that they were ready yet.

"Alright, we'll be here than," Neal said before glancing over at Rose for a moment. Like her, he wondered what exactly they would be wearing as costumes. If they weren't going to be Bats, what would they be? "Lets go Rose," Neal said before making his way outside and back to his car again.

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